Remembering JFK

John F. Kennedy's legacy is far greater than the headlines that followed his assassination in Dealey Plaza, and Dallas will forever be a tragic figure in the story of America's most youthful president. Congress set a deadline of Oct. 26, 2017, to release thousands of files on the assassination that had remained classified. Only the president has the authority to keep them sealed.

An initial review of the thousands of pages of material — including FBI interviews, reports of CIA activity — surfaced household names of the era, from the actress Marilyn Monroe, to the mobster Sam Giancana and, over and over, John F. Kennedy.

The Continental's low-slung, angular lines and rear-hinged "suicide" doors were a bold departure at the time for Lincoln styling and seemed to personify the fresh-faced Kennedy and the new frontiers he espoused for the country.

Kennedy also launched, for better or worse, the age of celebrity presidents that culminated with last November's election of a billionaire businessman best known for hosting a reality television show. Ironically, Donald Trump's obsessive self-absorption contrasts sharply with the sense of detachment, both public and private, that was one of Kennedy's most appealing traits.